Running for Two

Sound advice from doctors, researchers and runners on running during pregnancy

Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba, 30, took a different approach. Though she won 13 of the 18 road races she entered in 1996 and was ranked Running Times’ Road Racer of the Year, she stopped running completely when she became pregnant in 1997. Instead, she went back to work as a telephone operator, saying that she felt it was better for the health of her baby. She came back with a vengeance in 1998, winning 13 of 14 races entered, and has continued to cruise since, with a marathon world record capping her 2001 season.

"Don’t compare yourself to other people," cautions Gordon Bakoulis, 41, and the sixth American woman in last year’s New York City Marathon, where she qualified for the 2004 Olympic Trials. Bakoulis ran during both her pregnancies. Her sons, Joey and Sam, are five and three.

"If you can do track workouts into your third trimester, that’s okay, as long as the baby is growing normally, you’re not spotting, there are no problems," she explains. "But if you have to give up running, that’s fine, too."

Does it Feel Right?

Research supports these many options. A 1983 study, one of the earliest, was conducted by the Melpomene Institute, a research center in St. Paul, MN that focuses on women’s health and fitness. It compared 77 runners, 27 swimmers, and 27 non-exercisers during their pregnancies and for six months thereafter. Pregnant runners gained slightly less weight than the other two groups. Babies of runners tended to have birth weights about 300-500 grams lower, though still well within normal range; the babies merely had slightly less subcutaneous fat. Most importantly, the study confirmed that mothers who exercise are likely to feel better about themselves, about the transformations in their bodies, and about their abilities to take on the challenges of new motherhood.

These findings were revolutionary because they were some of the first objective pieces of evidence that running while pregnant is not a bad idea. A year later, in 1984, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) published cautious guidelines for pregnant athletes, advising a maximum heart rate of no more than 140 bpm. Women and their doctors soon found themselves in a quandary, since for many athletes, 140 isn’t hard to reach with even mild exertion, especially in the later stages of pregnancy.